#1: Quite Frankly, it was about time I started a Substack
Comfort content, fake generational divides, and a deep dive on whether silicones are trashing your hair.
Oh hi,
Welcome to my Substack, Quite Frankly. I’m Ange, a Sydney-based lifestyle journalist, and this is where I’ll be brain dumping all the stories, ponderings, and pop culture moments that have consumed my mind each week.
You see, a little over a year ago, I packed up my flat, left my friends, and a job I loved, and moved back to Sydney from London. Through a series of events that can be broadly summarised with the number “2020”, I suddenly found myself back on home soil and starting over — again.
But while my job no longer required me to be immersed in the minutiae of the pop culture news cycle . . . I still was. To be honest, I’ve really missed having a place to foist my thoughts and feelings about silly little (and bigger) topics that interest me.
I need to be honest with you, this is going to be a pretty self-indulgent newsletter but, if you’re here, it’s probably because you (a) know me, and (b) are here for exactly that.
I don’t really know if it’ll be weekly yet, but I’d love you to hang around long enough to find out. Here are a few bits that have been swirling around in my brain this week.
Can We Stop Talking About Gen Z Now?
I remember when millennials were the cool kids. Even saying those words probably dates me but, at the time, I was (and still am, of course) a millennial who worked at a digital youth publisher that spent its days trying to reach my generation. I sat in endless meetings to strategise about how to reach millennials, without actually asking the millennials on the team what we wanted to read (which was, it’s worth noting, what we were already writing).
One day, a colleague turned to me and said, “the more that people call us ‘millennials’, the more obvious it becomes they know nothing about our generation”. She was right.
In the pursuit of appealing to the up-and-comers, common generalisations are always thrown around: gen zs are either socially conscious or snowflakes (depending on who you ask), millennials are lazy, Harry Potter-obsessed brats who suck at “adulting”, and gen x is . . . wait, who’s gen x, again?
This week, Louis Menand wrote an article titled “It’s Time to Stop Talking About Generations” for The New Yorker. In it, Menand posed the idea that “generations are just a novel way of slicing up the space-time continuum, no more arbitrary, and possibly a little less, than decades and centuries. The question, therefore, is not ‘Are generations real?’ The question is “Are they a helpful way to understand anything?’”
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the arbitrary way we divide ourselves into generations, albeit not as articulately as Menand. For example, why is every company trying to target gen z, and is it just because I’ve recently hit 30 (and therefore, have officially landed in uncool territory, according to my new age bracket) that I don’t see the issue with the dwindling gen z population on Instagram? And why does a platform suddenly become irrelevant when the younger generation finds something new, anyway?
In case it isn’t clear, I have no answers. But it’s an interesting thought, nonetheless.
Are Silicones Ruining Our Hair?
This week, I wrote a story for Allure that dives deep (like, 2,500 words, deep) into the world of silicones to find out whether they’re actually ruining our hair. The short of it is, probably not. But the long version is, hair products that contain silicones aren’t necessarily a great long-term choice for our hair.
In the story, I speak with a dermatologist, cosmetic chemists, and hairstylists to figure out whether the shame we’ve all received from our hairdresser about the products we use is warranted. You’ll have to read my story to find out the details.
Comfort Content Only, Please
I have a thing for comfort content and, at the moment, that looks like Alison Roman’s Home Movies on YouTube. I know what you’re thinking: “a millennial woman recommending Alison Roman? Groundbreaking.” But the truth is, Roman has sat at the periphery of my awareness for years, never quite breaking through to the internet icon status she has for so many others.
I know she’s been knocking around the internet, well, forever — whipping 20- and 30-something women into a frenzy with her general, sarcastic vibe and easy-to-follow recipes. And I’m hooked, folks.
The truth is, Roman’s videos — complete with dry quips to the cameraman, an intense love of beans, and general New York-ness — makes me yearn for a life I’ve endlessly dreamed about this past year-ish. It’s not an exaggeration to say her videos offer me comfort in the same way her recipes probably would if I ever actually made them. Instead, I sit on my couch, sipping tea, and watching her videos for hours at a time.
All that’s to say, I highly recommend you settle in and binge her YouTube the next time you need something a little funny and a lot comforting. I especially love the one about pies and the one where she makes her signature shallot pasta.
Other Honourable Mentions
Not only have I had Adele’s new single, “Easy On Me”, playing on repeat all week long, but I’ve also felt extremely attacked (and, honestly, quite seen) by this TikTok that explains why the song is hitting women so god damn hard.
Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet on the Dune press tour. That’s it. That’s the story.
Love you, bye!